Welcome to the Mariners Church Life Group Leader Podcast. This weekly conversation is designed to equip and resource youth to build a healthy life group community that studies God's word, practice the spiritual rhythms and changes the world together. Welcome Life Group Leaders to the Life Group Leader Podcast. My name is Dallas.
I am your host for today and I am joined by... Le Divino, Marycaster. Linda is here. Can't wait.
We're going to dive in. But before we dive in, I would love for you to share a little bit what's happening in marriage ministry, what can groups be excited about what's coming up, another two big things coming up. Two big things. So what are they, what do we need to know?
Marriage matters is coming up on the 8th and also March 8th. So that's easy. Oh, so 8 and 8. So there's too much.
8 and 8. And then we also have, are excited to announce a new curriculum that Life Groups could go through called Better Us, the Doug and Kathy Fields wrote. Amazing. And that will be on February 8th.
We're going to launch a party for the book just to congratulate Doug and Kathy and recognize them. But then on campus, we're going to do one on March 12th, a four week study. But Life Groups could go through it on their own, or they can come and bring a Life Group to campus starting March 12th and do the series. Amazing.
Child Care is there child care? Child Care is available. Yep. Hey, some of you married Life Groups.
Child Care available. You can be here on campus four weeks, or you can do it in the comfort of your own home. Brand new content. Yeah.
Doug and Kathy, it's going to be amazing. As you're thinking out the next couple months, Linda just gave you two fun things to do as a group that are outside the normal time. So it's celebration. That's fun.
That's bringing your group together. And an opportunity for some first curriculum. I mean, if you are married group, we're putting the ball in the tee for you. Yeah.
Super fun. Super fun. Super easy. It's great engagement for not only Life Groups, but also for couples too, whether you've been married four months or four years.
And it's just great reminders. Love that. Next couple months, some things to look out for. Look out for.
Get it to your group. Talk about it, leaders. Get it on the calendar. If you start now, everybody can say, hey, on Wednesday nights, we're going to do this.
Or hey, starting in March, we're going to get the curriculum. We'll do it on a normal time. I think it matters. They're so fun.
We're hosting in February together. We are. We're excited about that. That'll be great.
Yeah. But we're right now, we are in our series on the table, which has been amazing. And we're in week five. We're like, oh, we're coming to the back half right now with the home stretch.
It's surprising. It's fine. It's fine. Week five.
I promise to make us rich, or should Christians be poor? What a question. Great question. I want to encourage leaders.
Maybe you're looking at this title and saying, I don't even want to go down this path with my group. Let's do something fun instead. Let's skip this week. And I just want to encourage you, lean in.
There's some really beautiful conversations. We read through the manuscripts. Can't wait to hear them here multiple times this weekend. Can't wait for the conversations that aren't come from this.
But we lean in. And this is a really fun lean in question. It is. It's going to get everybody talking.
So, Linda, what was your first job? Was it great? Was it terrible? Or was it somewhere between you?
My first job was amazing. Amazing. It was, I was worked at a roller skating rink. And I got the job right when I turned 16.
I applied and worked my way from Snap Bar to Cashier to Floor Guard. Floor Guard? Yes. So, Boston people skating backwards, blowing the whistle, wearing the black and white structure.
I see it. It was an exciting job. Do you still know how to roller skate? I still know how to roller skate.
I don't know how to roller skate. Backwards. Yes. Backwards skate.
Amazing. That is super fun. It was a fun job. You'd be great.
I can see you doing it. Yeah, good. But with Toyota, there was a Toyota dealership in high school. Okay.
And they would have me pick up a car on Fridays and I would go to different high school football games. And I would get there before kickoff. I would stay through halftime. I would just be out there.
We would do a raffle and we'd give away a gift card. Okay, you need to pause. You'd park the car in the front where people could see it. I just drove.
I just drove. Okay. I went to different high school football games. Did all the raffle tickets gave away a gift card?
Uh-huh. And then I just drove the car home at halftime. I got paid on the table cash. That sounds so fun.
It was really fun. I just watched high school football games. I was a senior in high school. That sounds so fun.
I didn't go to a single football game my senior year of high school from my own high school. But I went to every other high school. I love that. That's really unique.
It was really fun. It was really easy. I got to meet people. I really enjoyed it.
It helped me get out of my shell and had to have conversations. Yes. And I got to drive a new car. I can't believe they did not.
They gave me a t-shirt. Okay. I'm shocked that they let me drive a car. Yeah.
So I think that could be a really fun way to get to know people. And even for some, some of you groups that have been around for five or ten years, I'm thinking group, I don't even know if I know what everybody's first job was. So this would be a really fun conversation to have in group time. I always do first and worst.
When you get older. First and worst. First and worst. When you have a lot of jobs.
I always I like to do first and worst. First job, worst job. So that could be another fun game to play with with a group as you lean in. But then we look down.
You have this passage of scripture. You're going to read first Chronicles 29, 12 through 16. Ed is doing such a great job of breaking it down for us in the message. But then we look at these questions.
And I want to I want to help us. I want to help you with these questions because at first glance these questions could feel like trivia. Where does David say all wealth ultimately comes from? A, B, or C.
And all the same answer. God. So you could just play trivia like, yep, that's right. Next question.
Or maybe we can say, hey, let's highlight all the all the times it says that. So we're pulling it out. Okay. What verse?
Okay. What verse? Okay. What verse?
And then you're going to see a theme. So you're going to interact with scripture in a different way instead of just playing trivia. So like really interact with scripture and as a leader feel it in the room. Don't play trivia.
So you're going to interact with scripture. So we do that. And then we look out. And I think this can, this is where the conversation get really, really fun.
So in what way is is our culture clearly worship money and wealth? Wow. A lot of ways, a lot of ways, right? So they could come up with different ways.
Make sure too as you're facilitating the discussion that you're encouraging people to share. What does culture say? So whether it's social media, whether it's commercials on television, whether it's articles you see or just people in your neighborhood, where do we see this really clearly taking place? So how can I encourage someone?
Maybe this money talk is really sensitive. Yes. How can you be encouraging to get people to talk? I would just encourage them to look at scripture and to work.
Obviously, we're talking about culture. So call it out. I know that some of you in this room might be sensitive to talking about money. But the Bible is super clear about everything belongs to God and trusting God with our money, not worshipping it.
There are other ways to be rich, right? In character and a very good fruit. So just really affirming that. Yeah, I like that you called it out.
Yeah, I know this might be a sense of subject. For some people, they would really appreciate that. I think with the second question, what does it look like to be wise about money? What you want to really steer clear from is the advice giver in your group.
Here's what you really need to do. You've got to be investing. How can we make sure that that doesn't happen? It doesn't turn into a financial talk.
Call it out. Here's my business card. Yeah, call it out. Yeah, I know there's a lot of you who are investors.
Or some of you might have done really well with investing money and saving some of your spenders. So let's just stick with the question. And what does the Bible say about being a nice about money? That's really good.
Calling it out. I think that's a key takeaway that I'm learning right now. Just being able to call it out. So you have look out.
Don't feel like you need to go through every single question. You have three questions and look out. Maybe at one or two. We're not in a rush.
We don't need to. OK, I've got to cut you all off because we've got to get to this third question. Take your time. If there's a conversation, hey, why don't you tell me a little bit more about that?
There's always those follow up questions that we can ask. And we can pull more and more out. Unpack it. Then we look in.
And I think this is where we're looking into our own hearts. And it might be good to call it out. Hey, no longer are we looking out in culture. Now, I want us to look in our own hearts.
And this is us. This is not us giving advice to one another. This is examining your own heart. In what ways are you most often tempted to care too much about, even worship, money, and wealth?
I would even recommend you could pass out cards and have each person write it down. And then have a leader read those off if people don't feel comfortable talking about that because I'm super personal. Oh, I worship. I care too much about money because of the way I dress.
And I want to make sure I have the most clothes. Or the right handbag or the right shoes. So if we write things down that we're struggling with and then just have the leader read those. Hey, here's some things that you guys came up with.
You're not going to talk about who it is. But here's a way that we could talk about this without knowing exactly who wrote this down. It's freeing because you might be sitting in a group thinking, I'm probably the only one. That's what the enemy likes to say.
You're the only one who thinks this way. Everybody else in your group has this figured out. So this really allows them, wow, I'm not the only one. And then this last question.
How beautiful. How can Christian community like ours help one another manage our money wisely and guard our hearts against worshiping it? I think that's just a two prayer. Making sure that that rhythm of strongholds is something that's happening in your life group.
And encouraging people wherever you go, whatever you do, if you spend time celebrating at a dinner or something, make sure that you're going to a place that's affordable for everybody, not feeling like you need to spend a lot of money on snacks and things like that. But also just praying for people who are struggling. And encouraging them to be generous. I really appreciate Eric when he gets to our staff meetings and it's outreach weekend.
And he says, hey, I want to make sure you all have an opportunity to jump into generosity with the rest of our church. Before we even get into the whole weekend, our whole staff has already had a moment to prayerfully consider what does it look like to be generous. And Eric does such a great job of, hey, you don't need to have a bunch of zeros. Like I just want you to play.
I just want you to jump in. And your group, if you shoot as their leader, I think in those moments, that can be a place where a leader can have a step by my comfort zone here and encourage my group. But those are opportunities where maybe you can say, hey, I really want to encourage you all to pray. How can we be generous for outreach weekend?
It's not about the amount of zeros. But what does it look like to just give something? That would officially do. Right?
Yeah, you can't as a leader also ask people to do something that you're not personally doing. And again, I love what you said about it. It doesn't matter about all the zeros. If it's $10, it's $10, it's $5.
It's $5. Yep. I really think that could be a beautiful conversation. And it could be really helpful.
And I really believe it could have an impact on your group for months and years to come. Like you remember that moment where you challenged me? Like it's one of those powerful moments that I think someone will look back on. Like, hey, you challenged me.
And I was generous. And look at how my heart has changed. Not because God gave me all of this. But look at how my heart has been forever changed because you had the courage to challenge me.
And I think that's a good way to talk with your spouse and say, what are ways we could be more generous as a couple and engaging in that conversation together? Yeah. So it doesn't feel like you're singled out. That's beautiful.
Love it. But that's it. That's the life group questions. That's week five on the table.
Really encourage you as leaders to jump in, lean into the conversation. And I really believe that God is going to bless the conversation. So thanks for joining us. We are so thankful for all that you do as leaders in our church.
We're praying for you and we can't wait to see you this weekend. Yes. And it matters. And it matters.
And it matters. And it matters.